Your Worst-ever Use of Miles?

[roadtripman]

Originally Posted by Flews

(yes, short haul had meals in those days!).

Good story. When were "those days?", though? Was this in the 80's?

I remember my own empty plane experience - flying from Kansas City to Hays, via Great Bend. There was only one other passenger besides me! Now, this was a tiny prop jet with around 20 seats, so it surely didn't matter where we sat, but it was nice to experience having the plane all to ourselves. The pilots didn't bother to close the cockpit door (and this was the 2006 post 9/11 world!), and gave us a bit of a mini-lesson on how the airplane works (while they were flying!).

[CMK10]

Originally Posted by Flews

My worst use of miles was arguably also my best use of miles.

It was certainly a trip I will always remember.

It was the time I used points to travel about 200 miles from Toronto to Ottawa for a wedding. We flew up in the afternoon, with our return booked for the last flight back in the evening. Two J class tickets. Now, that was a lot of points for just a short puddle hop - but hey, the airline was struggling back in those days and I figured better to use 'em than lose 'em, right?

I have no recollection of the flight to Ottawa. Or the wedding. Or the reception. Except that it ran late so we were cutting it tight getting back to the airport.

We quickly snagged our boarding passes without line-up, made it through security, and dashed to the gate only to find no one there except the agent.

As we approached the gate, she greeted us by name. She explained she wasn't psychic; just that the flight before ours was running late so they had already put everyone from our flight on the earlier one - which was gone!

Fear not, the agent explained. Our flight was still departing as scheduled. It's just that we would be the only passengers on it! Literally.

A few minutes later came the departure announcement, concluding with the words, "would Mr. and Mrs. Flews now please proceed to the gate?"

So we did. As we proceeded down the ramp to the plane, we were greeted by the entire crew of eight standing outside the door; the head purser dramatically unfolding a red table cloth for us to walk across.

In we went, into this caverous, empty airplane, where we were invited to seat ourselves "wherever you like". Hundreds of seats, a 2/3/2 configuration up front. So much for using the extra miles for J class!

Then came the really neat part.

My wife, half joking, asked whether sitting "wherever you like" included the cockpit. Let me ask the Captain, says the Purser. Who quickly returned with a grin and told us we were invited to sit in the cockpit for takeoff.

Now, I happen to have a fear of heights. Back then I wasn't really a big fan of flying. I ALWAYS avoid the window, even to this day, if I can. So I took a pass and ordered a double gin & tonic instead.

My wife went up front, and returned after about 10 minutes after take-off once we had leveled off. She raved about it, said it was truly an amazing experience. We enjoyed a quick meal (yes, short haul had meals in those days!). And we chatted with the crew, who confessed they had never encountered a completely empty flight like this before.

Soon the Captain came back on with the pre-landing announcement. He concluded by asking "would any Flews' like to join me in the cockpit for landing?"

This time, I couldn't resist. So we both went up and sat in the jumpseats behind the pilots.

It was truly an experience I will always treasure. For one thing, I will never forgot how quiet it was. The sky was crystal clear that night, and the City was sparkling below. We were amazed how small Pearson Airport seemed to be. The pilots even turned on the radio so we could hear their conversation with the tower - which rattled off a whole bunch of instructions.

At that point, probably for our benefit, the Captain asked the tower for some kind of confirmation or clarification of the numbers. And the tower replied with a laugh: "Oh, forget it - just follow that airbus in!"

So we did. For the smothest landing I ever had experienced. We even clapped when we touched down, to the grins of the pilots, who high fived themselves.

And that, my friends, is how my worst use of miles actually became my best use of miles.

Ya just never know!

Happy flying.

Cheers,

This was a great story, I'm jealous.

[Flews]

[quote=roadtripman;11913133]Good story. When were "those days?", though? Was this in the 80's?QUOTE]

Early '90s. Canadian Airlines, before it merged with AC.

Cheers,

[DeltaAgent]

I work in Reservations so I see a lot of various comparasions between the fare and milege award cost. Usually, I try not to offer an opinion when someone is debating between using miles or cash. Since that is their choice based on their personal preference.

The worst I heard about was a woman who used 25k for a short flight out West. She could have bought the ticket for $81, yes, just 81 dollars. The agent did advise her it probably cost her more than $81 to accumulate 25k miles.

[adamthetraveller]

Easy. 50K AAdvantage miles = 1 night at the Moscow Marriott Grand . At least we got an Ambassador Suite .

[all168]

I booked 3 tickets from LAX to HKG in July by using 65000mi UA each in Jan, suppose the ticket price for summer will go as high as $1200, but I can buy a ticket from air China for around $700 each now. Maybe I should save the mile for X'mas travel.

[eponymous_coward]

I'm (waitlisted to) burn 15K AA miles + $50 to go from Y to J on a LAX-JFK redeye.

I got the miles for a delayed LAS-LAX flight, and a $300 voucher for VDB'ing myself OFF the flight and catching a ride to LAX for the second leg home (LAX-SEA), so I figure this is free trave (when I fly AA I stick my miles in AS, so the miles would be orphaned- plus I prefer NW (soon DL) for long-distance mileage runs as AS status gives you premium seat selection on NW and limited domestic upgrades, but not AA).

Yeah, there's probably some exotic 57 stop MR I could do that's a better use of the voucher+miles (I still have residual value left that will be good until next June), but I've never been to New York. (My return to the West Coast is burning a WN Rapid Rewards one-way to go LGA-MDW-LAS to visit friends in Las Vegas before returning home, which is quite a difference in experiences for transcon travel. I figure it will make a nice TR).

[ceverett]

50K AAdvantage anytime miles for a MSP-GRR R/T, and glad to have it.

My mother didn't tell me until 20 days out that my uncle was visiting from Brazil and I was expected to be there, and of course prices had just jumped, or I could have booked a direct ticket on NW for < $150.

[atsak]

Spent 50,000 AA points for round trip to LAX for two from YYZ, then bought tickets to HNL from LAX, plus one extra ticket YYZ to LAX.

Cost for flight from YYZ to HNL - CDN$630
Cost for flight from LAX to HNL - CDN$480

Really I only got $300 worth of value for the 50,000 miles.

Cash was tight though so was all I could do (probably should have just skipped the vacation but was so very tired and needed a break).

[margarita girl]

1050 Air Miles + $230 taxes/person to fly from YYZ-JFK on AA. A regular ticket would have cost around $350. Oh well, wanted to get rid of those Air Miles since they were obviously totally USELESS!!! (Air Miles is a rewards program only available in Canada and maybe the UK and it doesn't cost anything.) And it got me to JFK to use my free Open Skies ticket to Paris courtesy of Flyer Talk!

The one good thing is I earned 500 AA miles in each direction!

Edit: I value Air Miles at 14 cpm as 140 miles can be converted into a $20 gift card for my local grocery store. So I only got slightly ripped off.

[pinniped]

I've done a few short-haul 25k redemptions at 1.5cpm or so over the years. If it's a flight I definitely need to take (thus representing a real cash outlay if I don't use miles), I'll accept a lower return per mile.

MCI-DTW R/T - we've redeemed NW for that a couple times. Neither my wife nor I pursue Skyteam status, and that ticket is usually in the $350-400 range due to a lack of competition.

I figure it's easy to rebuild a big stash of miles. I'd rather monetize them quickly instead of holding out for the "perfect" redemption.

I also redeem for int'l premium cabin quite a bit, but those aren't flights I'd otherwise book with cash so there really isn't a meaningful value to put on them.

[emma dog]

I was trying to book a trip TPA-MSP-PIR a couple months ago using AS miles and got so focused on using the miles that I lost sight of the forest. I paid for 2 tickets at something like $450. For some reason having to do with the NW/DL merger, I was unable to find availability from TPA-MSP so was going to buy that portion for $250-ish then use 25k miles+various fees for MSP-PIR. After I booked it, I came to my senses but by that time it was too late. Fortunately, schedule changes resulted in serious misconnects and everyone involved let me cx both the TPA-MSP and the MSP-PIR portions for full refunds and I could just buy 2 additional tickets like I should have originally.

[kaka]

Originally Posted by caipiroska

I got a roundtrip ticket from TXL-LHR-HGK on CX and BA for 85.000 asia miles where the LHR HKG I could have gotten for under 400 Euros.

i found out if you manage to get availbility on QF you can get a J ticket for 11500 AM, merely 30000 AM more. much better value. (Oneworld award so 2 airline exc CX, plus CX being the third airline which is optional), using BA for TXL-LHR, and QF for one way or both to/from HKG)

[Gamecock]

Originally Posted by CMK10

This was a great story, I'm jealous.

Agreed! Great story. I fly a fair amout with Military Airlift Command and have sat in the cockpit during takeoff more than once. Puts a whole new pespective on flying.

[that_guy]

A J class ticket from Europe - South America, and it was on Varig.

11 hours in the middle seat of a MD-11, where the meal was served with plastic silverware, really lousy flight attendants, and in-flight movies were a DVD player on request.

I'm glad that airline went under.